NARA faces lawsuit to hand over the 5,400 emails with pseudonyms of Joe Biden

The Southeastern Legal Foundation has filed a federal lawsuit to have the contents of the emails made public to "preserve governmental integrity."

Fachada de Archivos Nacionales junto a fotos de Joe y Hunter Biden. — (Wikimedia Commons/Cordon Press)

Published by

Israel Duro

29 de agosto, 2023

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Pressure is mounting on the National Archives (NARA) to make public the 5,400 emails in which Joe Biden, using three pseudonyms (Robin Ware, Robert L. Peters and JRB ware), allegedly forwarded government information, and discussed business with the partners of his son Hunter during his time as Barack Obama's vice president. The Southeastern Legal Foundation (SLF) has filed a federal lawsuit for these emails to be given to them under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) given their relevance to public opinion and transparency.

"The American public deserves to know what is in them"

SLF's lawsuit adds to a request made earlier this month by the House Oversight Committee for NARA to provide these emails. In this case, the commission, chaired by James Comer, gave until August 31 for the government entity to deliver the requested content unredacted.

SLF General Counsel, Kimberly Hermann, said in a statement that Americans have a right to know if there has been an abuse of power and attempts to conceal it:

All too often, public officials abuse their power by using it for their personal or political benefit. When they do, many seek to hide it. The only way to preserve governmental integrity is for NARA to release Biden’s nearly 5,400 emails to SLF and thus the public. The American public deserves to know what is in them.

"Unreasonable delays" of National Archives

This is not the first time SLF has claimed this information from NARA. Previously in 2021 they made this request. NARA's response was that it had not assumed custody of the then-vice president's records until January 20, 2017, therefore, the emails could not be made public until January 20, 2022. In 2022, SLF renewed its request with a second FOIA request. However, NARA has not produced a single one of these requested emails thus far.

Braden Boucek, Director of Litigation at SLF, said: "Public transparency is the most vital check the citizens have for holding our political class accountable. After over a year of trying to work with NARA, its continued and unreasonable delays have forced SLF to file this lawsuit."